Great article. It's pretty obvious to me that 90% of what is happening here is guys who are missing the military structure, adventure and comradeship of serving in the Middle East are meeting up and trying to recreate what they are missing by finding an excuse to be needed. Modern isolated life of sitting alone in houses consuming media is shit for everyone. I'm not saying I endorse what they are about but it's good to build a real understanding of what's happening.
You're spot on. It's a weird response to missing that feeling of community, having something bigger than yourself, being with others (in real life) who share your perspectives and speak the same language. I think this will be the disruptive trend of this century: a surprising and profound reorientation to what is real. I think we're all finding that Social Media is not truly social, and that we hate that our devices addict us and have left us feeling strangely empty. Militias are just the more bizarre first wave of what is to come. Fortunes will be made helping people reconnect with what it means to be alive.
I have mixed feelings reading an article like this. On the one hand I find it fascinating, and worthwhile to tell the story that these people are out here doing this, in many ways it's crazy, it and people should know about it.
On the other hand I feel like in a lot of ways this story is about confirming people's already entrenched views. Part of that is Mother Jones is hardly agenda-less. The other part is it's problematic to emphasize fringe groups support or dislike of mainstream politicians.
